


It Wasn't Supposed to be This Way

by WolfRune20855



Series: Ever After Parents [4]
Category: Ever After High
Genre: F/M, Gen One, Graduation, Parents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-21
Updated: 2017-01-21
Packaged: 2018-09-19 01:00:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9410561
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WolfRune20855/pseuds/WolfRune20855
Summary: After two years of no communication with Bad, Red graduates from Ever After High, and starts her destiny.





	

Evi was excited. Red observed her roommate's reflection in the mirror. The future evil queen was busy packing her trunk, an activity that Red had done several days earlier. She watched as the girl talked at length about how great it was that she would finally graduate and get revenge on Snow White. What she was getting revenge for Red didn't know, she wondered if Evi even knew. Probably not, Red decided. Evi knew no more about why she hated Snow White than the Hoods knew about the Wolfs.

Red fixed her cap and sent one more glance at her roommate. For all that Evi had been destiny happy and magic crazy, she had been a good roommate. Red wouldn't miss her, but it would definitely be different without her around.

"Bye, Evi," Red said, turning to face the girl, "I suppose we won't see each other again."

"No, we won't," Evi agreed, "I hope you have a nice time delivering baskets, or whatever it is you do."

"And I hope you have a nice time," Red paused. What exactly was Evi going to do? Poison a nice, if a little annoying, girl? "conquering the world, or something."

Evi smiled at that, but didn't say anything. With her goodbyes to her roommate over, Red left the room. The next round of goodbyes wasn't going to be quite as easy.

Red found Marian sitting outside the graduation hall. She was wearing a blue dress with a matching cone hat that looked all kinds of unnatural on her. She was staring down at her hands, lost in thought, with Robin right beside her.

"I don't know, Rob," she said and Red slowed her approach. She sounded so unsure of herself that Red knew that she was intruding on something private. Marian almost never let people see her as anything but loud and obnoxious.

"Marian," Robin said, "My destiny's always been to save you."

"I know," she said, "but now you're free to do whatever you want. Nobody can blame you for doing something else."

"Maybe I don't want to do anything else," Robin said, and Red stifled a gasp. That was practically a declaration of love coming from the red headed archer.

Marian and Robin's relationship was what one would call complicated. Sometimes they were best buds and other times they were at each other's throats. Red would go as far as to say that their relationship was more complicated than hers and Bad's. Though, they had no reason for it to be. They were literally written for each other.

"Robin, I-"

"There you two are," Marian's response was cut off by the arrival of Dashing Charming, and his girlfriend, Grace. "I hope we're not interrupting anything," Dashing said, sliding between Robin and Marian. Red glanced at Grace, who was shaking her head. Obviously, Grace had seen something was going on between the two.

Marian smiled, though Red was sure that it was mostly in relief. "Looks like we're all here," she said, "The only person we're missing is Red."

"I'm here. I'm here," Red said, running out of her hiding spot and pretending to be out of breath. It was best if Marian didn't know that she had been eavesdropping. "You have no idea how hard it was to escape Evi."

"Well," said Grace with a smile that said that she knew that Red was lying, "you're here now. So, let's go."

* * *

 

Graduation went off without a hitch, just as Red had expected it to. Dashing Charming's valedictorian speech was all about the future and their destinies. Snow White, the class president, smiled and chirped happily about how they would all look back on this day and smile. After that, they took turns walking across the stage.

There was an after party for those without immediate destinies to fill. Unfortunately for Red, she wasn't one of those people. Red had to successfully carry a basket to her grandmother's house, then she could go to the party.

"Red," Red's mother said, looking her in the eyes, "Make sure to deliver this basket to your grandmother. And remember not to talk to strangers or wander off the path."

"Yes, mom," Red said, taking the basket that her mother was holding out. She left the house, not nothing to look behind her.

Once upon a time, Red had dreaded her destiny. She had grown up hearing horror stories about the Wolfs, so it was only natural to fear them. They were scary monsters who ate children and feasted on sick, old grandmothers. When she was young, Red had been afraid that she would die delivering the basket of goodies.

Then, two years ago, Red had shot the her enemy, Bad Wolf. Instead of getting angry and eating her, Bad had simply laughed it off, a thing that he did frequently. More than that, though, Bad Wolf had actually made Red laugh, and Red had befriended him.

Alright, they weren't anywhere close to friends. During Red's sophomore year her and Bad met up and hung out. They talked, they ran, and occasionally they even kissed. Red would've gone as far as to say that she had fallen in love with the Big Bad Wolf, but before she had the chance to tell him, the year ended.

They hadn't really thought about what they'd do once the year ended. Red had always supposed that they would talk about it when they got there, but they never got the chance. Bad's parents had sent him to live with his uncle, the previous big, bad wolf. He'd promised to write, but he never had. Red supposed that he must've met some other girl, one that his parents would approve of.

Red sighed and stared at the forested path in front of her. No one was watching. No one would know if she talked to Bad as more than just a passing acquaintance. Red shook her head. She hadn't spoken to Bad in years. He had probably changed. After all, he had spent the past two years with his Hood-hating relatives.

Taking one last look behind her to the village that she called home, Red entered the forest. She was in Wolf territory now.

* * *

 

One hour.

That was how long Red had been wandering around the forest, trying to find her grandmother's house. It was hopeless. It seemed like every turn she took led her to a deeper, denser area of the woods. She had never been this far in the forest before, all of the territory around her was unfamiliar.

Red took a deep breath. "Come on, Red," she muttered to herself, "You can do this. Just think, what would Grace or Marian do?"

She could easily see what her friends would do in her place. Grace would climb a tree and try to get an areal view. Marian would probably shoot something. Seeing as Red didn't have a bow or a weapon of any other kind on herself, she'd have to climb a tree.

Red stuck her foot in a hole in the tree nearest to her. Carefully, she hoisted herself up. "Come on, Red," she encouraged herself, trying to take her mind of her dreadful fear of heights.

"You're going to get yourself killed," a gruff voice said from behind her, causing Red to let out a yelp and lose her footing on the tree. She hit the ground with a thud.

Dusting herself off, Red looked at the figure leaning smugly against a nearby tree. She didn't know how it was possible, but Bad Wolf was hotter than he had been the last time Red saw him. He was taller, probably around six five now, with his jaw more chiseled and his arm muscles more defined. He was wearing flannel and a pair of jeans with boots. His hair hung loose around his face, stopping at his chin, which was covered in stubble.

"Nice of you to finally show up," Red said.

Bad smiled and shrugged. "Better late than never," he said.

"Whatever," Red let out a small chuckle, "Do you know how to get to my grandmother's house."

Bad's eyebrow shot up. "Straight to the point, eh? That's not very like you."

"How do you know? We haven't seen each other in two years. A lot has changed since then."

"Like what?" Bad challenged.

"Like...like," Red paused, trying to think of what had changed. Marian and Robin were still on again off again. Grace and Dashing were still dating. Evi was still a narcissistic pain in the posterior. She was still on the track team. She was still hopelessly in love with Bad Wolf. Great, Red sighed, nothing had changed. Except, of course, Bad himself. "You," Red pointed out.

"Me?"

"Yes, you."

"How have I changed?" Bad asked, moving to stand beside Red.

"You're taller," she pointed out.

"So are you."

Red snorted. "Hardly."

Bad shrugged. "You're different, though," he said, "And trust me, you're taller. You used to only come up to my chin."

"And I still only come up to your chin."

"But I've grown," Bad said, "So, you have too."

"Touché."

There was a pause in the conversation as Red tried to think of something to say. What do you say when you see your ex boyfriend who's supposed to be your arch enemy? Was he even her ex? They technically hadn't dated. She hadn't talked to Bad in years, and here they were, skating around the important topics.

"So, how are Marian and Grace?"

"They're good," Red said, "How've you been?"

"I've been good," Bad said.

"And how was your uncle?"

"He was good...well...not good-bad."

"Oh. Did you learn a lot?"

Bad sighed. "Is this really what you want to talk about, Red?" he asked.

"I don't know. It's not like there's much else to talk about. We haven't seen each other in two years. I mean, it's not like you made an effort to stay in touch."

"Neither did you," Bad said.

Red knew that this was true. Neither of them had made much of an effort to stay in touch. She supposed that they had moved on. That what they had shared was nothing more than two idiotic teenagers thinking that they were in love. She almost laughed at that. There had been a time when she'd swore she was going to marry Bad Wolf, despite what everyone in her family said.

"There wasn't much to talk about," Red shrugged, "I mean, school is school."

Bad stared at her, seeming to see into her soul. It made Red shift uncomfortably. "I suppose," he said, "that I'm supposed to agree with you and say that nothing interesting happened to me too?"

Red had no idea why Bad was asking he this. They were done. Over. They hadn't talked to each other in two years. That was a lot of time. Tons of things could happen in two years, even if nothing had. Even if Red hadn't been able to get over Bad Wolf, even when Dashing Charming's ridiculously hot cousin asked her out on a date. Even then, Bad had been in the back of her mind. It made Red want to scream.

"You know," Bad said suddenly, "There was this incredibly beautiful princess working in the town I was living, and she was totally into me."

Red stared at Bad. _Why was he telling her this?_ She didn't want to hear about this _perfect_ girl that Bad had gone out with. She didn't want to hear how Bad had gotten over her when she couldn't.

"She liked bad boys, you see? And I'm bad boy extraordinaire. She kept asking me out to this restaurant and that extremely fancy ball. I went with her."

"That's nice," Red croaked, trying to get Bad to shut up.

"And do you know what? We went to these fancy balls, places that I could never afford to go to, and I hated it. I kept thinking about how much more fun it would be to be on a picnic with you."

Red froze. _What?_

" _You_. My supposed arch enemy who didn't even bother to stay in touch with me. I felt like such an idiot. I realized something when I was staying with my uncle, and I know you don't want to hear me say this, Red, but I have to. I'm in love with you, and I have been since you shot me with an arrow."

Red stared at Bad. Had he just confessed that he was in love with her while he was supposed to be giving her the wrong directions? It appeared that he had. She had dreamed of this so many times since she was sixteen, but she had never thought that is would actually happen.

"Me too."

Bad stared at her. "What?"

"I'm in love with you too. I think I've been in love with you for a while."

"That's good," Bad said with a grin, and Red grinned back.

She was sure that both of them looked like idiots, Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf standing in the middle of the forest grinning. What would her mother say? At the moment, though, Red didn't care. She didn't care about what her mother, or her uncle, or her grandmother would say. She didn't care that Wolfs and Hoods didn't get along. She didn't care that the goodies in her basket were getting cold. She didn't care that there was physically no way that the two of them could work out without breaking every rule in Ever After history. All that Red cared about in this moment was Bad Wolf and the idiotic grin that was covering his handsome face. She could care about the rest of that stuff later. Right now was for her and Bad.


End file.
